The present invention relates to a safety door, in which safety bolts are provided at two mutually opposite peripheral edges of the door leaf and can be shifted by means of a locking mechanism apparatus in assigned guideways in such a manner that, in a locked position, they protrude beyond the corresponding peripheral edge of the door leaf and, in an unlocked position, are accommodated within the door leaf, the locking mechanism apparatus comprising a slide rod, which can be shifted in its longitudinal direction and runs essentially transversely to the guideways and with which the safety bolts are coupled mechanically. The invention furthermore relates to a safety apparatus for subsequent installation in a door to produce a safety door of the aforementioned type.
A generic safety door is known from U.S. Pat. No. 819,460. For this safety door, two safety bolts, which can be moved in opposite directions to one another by means of the locking mechanism apparatus, are guided in each pipe, which extends transversely over the whole width of the door and serves as guideway for the safety bolts. In addition, two wedge mechanisms, disposed next to one another for shifting the two safety bolts of the corresponding pipe, are provided in the slide rod assigned to each pipe. The wedge mechanisms, thus disposed in pairs, comprise in each case two inclined elongated hole guideways, which run symmetrically to the longitudinal axis of the slide rod and are engaged by operating pins of the safety bolts.
It is a serious disadvantage of this known safety door that the locking mechanism apparatus is very wide. In particular, the appreciable width of the slide rod prevents entry doors to residences or houses, which must also meet aesthetic requirements, being constructed as safety doors in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 819,460, since paneling, coveting the locking mechanism apparatus, would occupy about one-third the width of the door and thus disfigure it.
A further genetic safety door is known from GB-A-2133456. For this safety door, pipes for guiding the safety bolts are inserted in the door leaf and extend in each case from a peripheral edge up to a housing countersunk in the door. In those housings, guide rod mechanisms are accommodated, which are assigned to the locking mechanism apparatus. By means of these control mechanism apparatuses, the movement of a slide rod, comprising two vertically extending sections that can be moved in opposite directions, can be converted into horizontal motions of the safety bolt. The two pipes, ending in each case in one housing, are disposed coaxially. Accordingly, in each case also two safety bolts, provided at mutually opposite peripheral edges of the door, lie on one line. It is a disadvantage of this known safety door that the guide rod mechanism occupies relatively much space. For aesthetic reasons, therefore, it is countersunk in the door. This, in turn, makes the subsequent re-equipping of a conventional door into a safety door almost impossible.
The GB-A-2 199 362 discloses a further safety door, which differs from the initially described genetic safety door essentially owing to the fact that two slide rods are provided instead of one, namely one each adjacent to the respective peripheral edge of the door, at which the safety bolts are provided. Each slide rod operates the safety bolts provided at the associated peripheral edge of the door. Furthermore, each of the two slide rods is divided into two slide rod sections working in opposite directions. The two sections of each slide rod are connected over wedge mechanisms with one operating rod each, which in turn can be shifted in its longitudinal direction, that is, transversely to the slide rods, by the centrally disposed lock. As in the case of the safety door of U.S. Pat. No. 819,460, in each case two safety bolts, provided at mutually opposite peripheral edges, are disposed coaxially to one another on one line.
With this safety door also, the space required for the locking mechanism apparatus is disadvantageous. In particular, the dimensions of the locking mechanism apparatus prevent a residence or house door, which is not ugly, being constructed pursuant to GB-A-2 199 362.
A further safety door, as well as an apparatus for re-equipping a conventional door into a safety door are known from the German patent 4128213. For this known door, the metal pipes, passing through the door leaf, extend over the whole width of the door leaf. In the ends of each of the pipes, two safety bolts working in opposite directions to one another are provided. Thus, in the locked position, each pipe is fixed over the two safety bolts protruding out of the door leaf and engaging the door frame. To operate the safety bolts, a slide rod, which comprises two sections that can be moved in opposite directions and is vertically displaceable, is provided. The two safety bolts of each pipe are coupled to the assigned section of the slide rod by means of two guide rods, which convert the vertical motion of the slide rods into horizontal motion of the safety bolts.
For this known safety door, it is also of disadvantage that the operating mechanism for the safety bolts is constructed relatively wide. If the safety bolts are to protrude in their locked position, as is customary, 20 mm from the peripheral edge of the door, the operating mechanism for the safety bolts can hardly be accommodated under a covering less than 12 cm wide. Especially in the case of the doors of old buildings, decorated with panels or the like, a continuous area of this width is frequently not available. Doors of old buildings can therefore frequently not be re-equipped to form the known safety door. Moreover, it is practically impossible to operate the additional safety apparatus by means of a lock disposed at the conventional place in the door; rather, an additional lock is usually required, the sole function of which is to operate the safety apparatus. This makes it more difficult to handle the door.